"It was pretty surprising, to be honest with you," Quinn told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. "We were competing over the bye week, but Matt got most of the reps. So I was surprised, but excited about it, for my career."

"There were just a lot of things going on that were outside of my control," Quinn said of his difficult time in Denver. "Sometimes in life we get caught up in the outside stuff and don't focus on the things that matter. Sometimes you get frustrated. If there's one thing I learned, it's that each week I needed to prepare the best way I knew how to prepare myself."

That preparation has led to another chance to lead an NFL team as Quinn gets the start Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. Quinn is smart enough to know he might not get another chance like it again.